Seriously, Just Eat Right Already!

You hear it all the time. If I could just eat right then I would lose weight. Or, wow, if so and so would eat right they would feel so much better. But seriously, how many of you eat right? What is eating right? So if you don’t eat right, does that mean you eat wrong?

Let’s explore. First of all we need to figure out what eating right means to us. Eating right to me means eating fresh whole foods, protein, fruits, vegetables and good fats. No sugar and no packaged foods. I do, however, like a nice glass of wine. I know that wine all the time doesn’t do my body good. I sure wish it did though. I love wine. If I am eating super strict I cut all alcohol. If I am eating somewhat strict I usually have a glass or two on Friday nights when we go out to eat. If I am not eating strict, I still eat as above, but I will drink wine about 3 to 4 times a week.

But, what if someone doesn’t even know what whole foods or protein or anything I mentioned above looks like. I can’t imagine someone would not know what a fruit or vegetable looks like, but I can see how someone might not know what protein or good fats are.

Fats – Considered heart healthy, good fats include olive oils, avocado oil, coconut oil (finally coming into the mainstream), grass fed butter, olives, avocados, and nuts. Nuts, need to be eaten in small quantities because a small amount packs a huge calorie and fat punch. If you like macadamia nuts, you can totally relate. Ummmmm, I ate the whole bag. Portion control is a big deal here for nuts. Fats have 9 calories per gram, as opposed to 4 for carbohydrates and meats, so you can see they are about twice the amount of calories as the other foods.

Let’s put a meal together now. This is a sample of what I eat when being super strict.

Breakfast: So because I know my body doesn’t function well on cereal and milk, sometimes I will eat oatmeal, not the instant though. I use the rolled oats that need to be cooked in the microwave for about 3 minutes and about 10 minutes on the stove. I then add protein powder into the oatmeal. I will also add some eggs to my breakfast. This works for my body and doesn’t give me a crash later in the morning. If I don’t eat the oatmeal, I eat eggs A LOT. I really like eggs and sausage and avocado.

Lunch: Lunch is probably the easiest meal for me. I love to have a giant bowl of spinach and cabbage or any other kind of salad as the base. I then add some tuna or chicken and a little bit of olive oil drizzled over the whole thing. Light and energizing.

Supper: Usually chicken or salmon or beef and a big pile of vegetables like broccoli and brussels sprouts, all drizzled with olive oil.

I also drink a lot of water during the day. I probably drink more than a gallon of water every day.

I rarely do dairy. My body does not like it.

The above is eating healthy, FOR ME. Although this would be a good way to eat for a lot of people, it might not be for everyone. You need to figure out what works for you.

There are so many ways of eating: Paleo, Ketogenic, low carb, low fat, high protein, and the list goes on and on. It gets confusing and it can be hard to figure out what really is healthy. THAT is where you have to experiment with things. It definitely becomes trial and error. Sometimes Paleo is awesome for people who are overweight and have Type 2 Diabetes, but it might not be for you. Eating right for you, may not mean eating right for someone else. Every single body is different and every single body reacts differently to different foods. Remember that. Just because Paleo works awesome AF for you, does not mean it is going to work like that for someone else. As much as I love Paleo, I know it’s not the only way to eat right.

Change things up until you find something that makes you feel amazing. It can be very interesting and empowering to know that you are in control of your own health. Isn’t that how it should be anyway? I think it should be. I don’t know about you, but I want to figure out things myself first.

When I get older, I don’t want to have to take a bunch of different medications to combat any problems that could have been prevented with nutrition in the first place. After all, let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. Sound familiar?